Detection and prevention of inmate to inmate message relay

ABSTRACT

Secure system and method of detecting and preventing inmate to inmate message relays. A system and method which monitors inmate communications for similar phrases that occur as part of two or more separate inmate messages. These similar phrases may be overlapping in real time as in a conference call or can occur at separate times in separate messages. The communications that appear similar are assigned a score and the score is compared to a threshold. If the score is above a certain threshold, the communication is flagged and remedial actions are taken. If the flagged communication contains illegal matter then the communication can be disconnected or restricted in the future.

BACKGROUND

Field

The disclosure relates to a system and method of detecting andpreventing illegal inmate-to-inmate communications in a controlledenvironment facility.

Related Art

In current prison facilities, inmates are generally permitted tocommunicate, using the prison's communication system, with a widevariety of individuals both inside and outside of the prison facility.As such, inmates of a particular facility may be capable ofcommunicating with other inmates, either in their own facility, or inother facilities. Even if direct contact is prohibited, suchcommunication can still occur via an intermediary.

There are monitoring systems and methods currently implemented incontrolled environment facilities. However, the ability of inmates tocommunicate with other inmates presents a number of challenges that areunique to a controlled environment facility and that are notsufficiently hampered by current monitoring and control systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

Embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. Additionally, the left most digit(s) of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

FIG. 1A illustrates a centralized detection and prevention systemconnected to several controlled environment facilities, according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates localized detection and prevention systemssupporting several controlled environment facilities, according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a detection and prevention system,according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a detection and preventionanalysis engine, according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a scoring module, according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for detecting andpreventing illegal communication, according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for scoring amonitored communication, according to an embodiment of the invention;and

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a general purpose computer thatmay be used to perform various aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings toillustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure.References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplaryembodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anexemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in therelevant art(s) to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic inconnection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuits), firmware,computer instructions, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may beimplemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, whichmay be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readablemedium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting informationin a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example,a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media;flash memory devices, or other hardware devices Further, firmware,routines, computer instructions may be described herein as performingcertain actions. However, it should be appreciated that suchdescriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in factresults from computing devices, processors, controllers, or otherdevices executing the firmware, routines, instructions, etc. Further,any of the implementation variations may be carried out by a generalpurpose computer, as described below.

For purposes of this discussion, the term “module” shall be understoodto include at least one of hardware (such as one or more circuit,microchip, processor, or device, or any combination thereof), firmware,computer instructions, and any combination thereof In addition, it willbe understood that each module may include one, or more than one,component within an actual device, and each component that forms a partof the described module may function either cooperatively orindependently of any other component forming a part of the module.Conversely, multiple modules described herein may represent a singlecomponent within an actual device. Further, components within a modulemay be in a single device or distributed among multiple devices in awired or wireless manner.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will sofully reveal the general nature of the disclosure that others can, byapplying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modifyand/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments,without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modificationsare intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents ofthe exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s) in light of theteachings herein.

Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that thisdescription may be applicable to many different communicationsprotocols.

American correctional facilities house millions of individuals incontrolled environments all over the country. An ongoing problem forsuch correctional facilities is the ability for inmates to communicatewith other inmates in order to arrange illegal activities. Such illegalactivities might include a hit (e.g., orchestrated killing) on a personthat is incarcerated or perhaps is part of the general public. Anotherexample of such illegal activities might be to arrange and organize ariot. The ability of inmates to plan and coordinate these events withother inmates over the prison communication system is a serious securityconcern with potentially fatal consequences.

Generally, correctional facilities restrict phone access by designatingthe time and place of calls permitted to the inmates. Correctionalfacilities also restrict phone access for inmates by permittingcommunication with only preapproved individuals or prohibiting inmatesfrom dialing specific numbers. In extreme situations, correctionalfacilities may terminate all prison communication services for a certainperiod of time, particularly during a riot or other emergency situation.

Most communications made by inmates are closely monitored bycorrectional facilities. However, regardless of the measures taken bycorrectional facilities, inmates repeatedly attempt to avoid detectionof suspicious communication regarding illegal activities by relayingmessages to other inmates or third parties outside of the correctionalfacilities. For example, in some instances, an inmate may be permittedto directly contact an inmate within their own facility, or within aseparate facility. This provides a direct line of communication tofacilitate the coordination of criminal acts. In other instances, aninmate may call an outside third party and instruct the third party tocontact another inmate in order to relay certain information. In thismanner, the inmate is able to skirt the restrictions in order toeffectively “communicate” with the other inmate. Thus, even without thedirect line of communication, coordination can still occur via the useof the intermediary.

As illustrated by these examples, there are many unique concernsassociated with monitoring the communications by inmates of a controlledfacility. To further complicate matters, certain facilities may beoutfitted to allow inmates to carry personal inmate devices (PIDs) anduse their own personal devices, in the form of tablet computers,smartphones, etc. for personal calls, digital content streaming, amongother uses.

With these concerns in mind, it is preferable to implement a systemand/or method of detecting and preventing inmate-to-inmate messagerelays. With this objective in mind, the following description isprovided for a system and method which monitors separate inmatecommunications for similar phrases. These similar phrases may beoverlapping in real time, for example as part of a conference call, orcan occur at separate times in separate communications. Communicationsare scored based on their similarity, and the resulting score iscompared to a threshold. If the score is above the threshold, any numberof preventative measures are taken, such as flagging the communicationsand alerting authorities. Additional measures may include identifyingwhether the communications contain illegal matter and then disconnectingthe communications, restricting future communications, and/or preparingcountermeasures to thwart the illegal activity.

Exemplary Centralized Detection and Prevention System

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary centralized detection and preventionsystem environment 100. In the environment 100, a detection andprevention system 110 is a centralized system that is connected to oneor more controlled environments 105A-C through each respectivecontrolled environment communication system 120A-C. In an embodiment,the controlled environment communication systems 120A-C control themajority of communications coming into or leaving the respectivefacilities, particularly those by or for inmates within the facility.The detection and prevention system 110 may be connected through wiredand/or wireless connections to the controlled environment communicationssystems 120A-C. In an embodiment, so as to facilitate communication withoutsider third parties, the detection and prevention system 110 isconnected to one or both of the PSTN 150 and the Internet 160. Each ofthe PSTN 150 and the Internet 160 may be connected to variouscommunications devices, such as devices 155 and 165.

In an embodiment, the detection and prevention system 110 performs avariety of functions with respect to the communications, such asmonitoring for key words and/or phrases indicative of a rules violation,recording conversations for future review by an investigator or otherauthorized person, as well as call control, such as disconnecting thecall in response to the detection of a rules violation, alerting anofficial of a rules violation, etc. The function of the detection andprevention system 110 may vary depending on the time sensitivity ofcommunications between outsider parties and inmates in the controlledenvironments 120A-C. For time sensitive communications, such as livetelephone calls, the detection and prevention system 110 is transparentto the communication and monitors the ongoing communication until thedetection and prevention system 110 detects a rule violation or untilthe communication ends. For non-time sensitive communications, such asemails and texts, the detection and prevention system 110 may act as acommunication interceptor, withholding the communication while it isbeing analyzed for a rules violation before releasing the communication(e.g., forwarding it) to the intended recipient.

In an embodiment, the controlled environment communication system 120Aprovides a local wireless network 130 for providing wirelesscommunication connectivity to wireless communication devices 135A.Wireless communication devices 135A may include electronic wirelesscommunication devices such as smart phones, tablet computers, PIDs, gameconsoles, and laptops, among others. In an embodiment, wiredcommunication devices 135B are also connected to the controlledenvironment communication system 120A. Wired communication devices 135Bmay include telephones, workstations, computers, in-pod kiosks, gameconsoles, and fax machines, among others.

In an embodiment, communication devices outside of the controlledenvironment 145A-B communicate with devices within the controlledenvironment 105A. Wireless communication devices 145A may be connectedto the controlled environment communication system 120A through awireless network 140. In an embodiment, wired communication devices 145Bare connected directly to the controlled environment communicationsystem 120A without an intervening network.

Exemplary Localized Detection and Prevention System

FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary localized detection and preventionsystem environment 100. In the environment 100, detection and preventionsystems 110A-C are localized systems that are located in one or morecontrolled environments 105A-C. Most communications flowing in and outof controlled environments 105A-C are controlled by the controlledenvironment communication systems 120A-C. Most communications flowingthrough the controlled environment communication systems 120A-C aremonitored by the localized detection and prevention systems 110A-C. Thedetection and prevention systems 110A-C may be connected through wiredand/or wireless connection to the controlled environment communicationssystems 120A-C. In an embodiment, so as to facilitate communication withother controlled environments 105A-C and outsider third parties, thedetection and prevention systems 110A-C are connected to one or both ofthe LAN and WAN 170 networks, such as the PSTN and the Internet, amongothers. Each of the WAN and LAN 170 networks may provide connection forvarious communications devices 175A-B.

Exemplary Detection and Prevention System

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a detection and prevention system200, according to an embodiment of the invention. The detection andprevention system 200 includes at least a processing subsystem 205, acommunication transceiver 210, and a database 280, and may represent anexemplary embodiment of any of the detection and prevention systems 110illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The processing subsystem 205 includes acommunication storage 220, an image detector 225, a transcriber 230, alanguage converter 240, a metadata extractor 250, a detection andprevention analysis engine 260, and an alerting module 270. The database280 includes a metadata database 282, a transcript database 284,language dictionary 286, and a keyword database 288.

The communication transceiver 210 detects communications sent to/fromthe controlled environment. The communications may be time sensitive,such as phone calls or video conferences, in which case thecommunication transceiver 210 detects real time communications betweeninmates and outsider third parties. Examples of real time communicationsinclude voice calls, video conference calls, video visitation sessions,video hand messaging sessions, multi-player game sessions, among others.In another embodiment, the communication transceiver 210 detects nontime sensitive communications such as, voice messages, email messages,text messages, among others. The communication transceiver 210 isconnected to the processing subsystem 205 in order to further analyzethe communication.

The communication storage 220 receives and stores communicationsdetected by the communication transceiver 210, according to anembodiment of the invention. The communications are stored in theappropriate file format in which the communications have been detectedby the communication transceiver 210. The communication storage 220stores the detected communications in the appropriate file formataccording to the type of communication. Audio communications are storedin various uncompressed and compressed audio file formats. Exemplaryaudio file formats include, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, WavPack, MP3, among others.In an embodiment, communications detected by the communicationtransceiver 210 may be in the form of audio, video, text or othersuitable formats depending on the type of communication received. Videocommunications are stored in various video file formats such as WMV,AVI, Quicktime, among others. Text communications are stored in varioustext file formats such as TXT, CSV, DOC, among others.

The image detector 225 receives and analyzes video files stored in thecommunication storage 220, according to an embodiment of the invention.In order to determine whether two or more inmates are present on thesame video communication, the image detector 225 captures images fromthe video communication and utilizes well-known 2D and 3D imagerecognition algorithms to determine the images of the participants. Theimage detector 225 compares the determined images of the videocommunication participants with images of inmates at the controlledenvironment. Upon a determination by the image detector 225 that thereare two or more inmates present on the same video communication, theimage detector 225 transmits a notification signal regarding theviolating communication to the alerting module 270. In an embodiment,the image detector 225 can determine the presence of the same inmate ontwo or more simultaneous video communications made to the same phonenumber, IP address, or MAC address. In other words, the image detector225 is capable of detecting a violating video communication between twoor more inmates connected by each inmate separately calling the samephone number, IP address, or MAC address at the same time.

The transcriber 230 receives and transcribes audio files stored in thecommunication storage 220, according to an embodiment of the invention.In order to monitor the communications for rule violations, thetranscriber 230 directly transcribes the audio file into a text file.The resulting text file contains the transcript of the detectedcommunication. In an embodiment, the transcriber 230 receives andtranscribes audio associated with video files stored in thecommunication storage 220.

The transcriber 230 performs analysis of the audio file for thetranscription and annotation of speech signals by comparing the speechsignals with known sound waveforms and speech signature frequenciesstored in the language dictionary 286. The language dictionary 286contains sound waveforms and speech signature frequencies for differentlanguages. In an embodiment, the transcriber 286 can analyze an audiofile containing different languages by comparing it with the soundwaveforms and speech signature frequencies for the correspondinglanguage contained in the language dictionary 286. In anotherembodiment, the transcriber 230 conducts voice analysis of the audiofile and recognizes phonemes and/or intonations and identifies thespeech as associated with the different speakers using voice analysistechniques. In other words, the transcriber can assign speech segmentsto different speakers in order to generate a dialog transcript of theactual conversation. The transcriber 230 lists and names the differentparticipants in the audio file and labels the sentences in thetranscript in order to indicate which speaker is communicating in thatparticular portion of the transcript. The transcriber 230 transcribesevents that occur during the conversation such as long pauses, extradialed digits, progress tones, among others into the transcript. Thetranscriber 230 can conduct phonetic transcription of the audio based ona phoneme chart stored in the language dictionary 286.

The language converter 240 receives the communications from thetranscriber 230 and the communication storage 220 and converts thecommunications into a standard language, according to an embodiment ofthe invention. As mentioned above, the communications may be conductedin different languages. The conversion into a standard languagefacilitates a more efficient and universal method of monitoring thecommunications to detect rule violations. In an embodiment, the languageconverter 240 converts the communications into English. The languagedictionary contains dictionaries for many different languages. When thelanguage converter 240 receives a communication containing languagesother than English, the language converter 240 searches the languagedictionary 286 for the corresponding words and phrases in English andconverts the communication accordingly. Using well-known grammaticalalgorithms, the language converter 240 is able to perform the languageconversion without significant grammatical errors in the converted text.The conversion results in a text file containing a transcript of thedetected communication in a standard language. In an embodiment, thelanguage converter 240 and the transcriber work as part of a combinedsystem to simultaneously perform language conversion and transcription.

The metadata extractor 250 receives the transcribed and/or convertedcommunication from the language converter 240 and extracts metadata fromthe communication, according to an embodiment of the invention. Themetadata summarizes basic information about the communication. Forexample, the basic information about the communication may include thenames of the people communicating, the phone numbers or email accounts,and the date and time of the communication, among others. The metadataextractor 250 transmits and saves the metadata in the metadata database282 and the text file containing the corresponding communication in thetranscript database 284.

The detection and prevention analysis engine 260 receives thecommunication from the metadata extractor 250 and analyzes thecommunication for illegal or suspicious contents, according to anembodiment of the invention. The detection and prevention analysisengine 260 analyzes the communication and compares it to pastcommunications to detect rule violations. The detection and preventionanalysis engine 260 will be described in detail in the following FIG. 3.

Upon the determination of a rule violation, the detection and preventionanalysis engine 260 transmits a notification signal regarding theviolating communication to the alerting module 270. Subsequently, thealerting module 270 alerts responsible supervising personnel at thecontrolled environments 105A-C. In an embodiment, the alerting module270 may disconnect a real time communication upon receipt of anotification signal from the detection and prevention analysis engine260. The alerting module may withhold the transmission of the non timesensitive communication until the supervising personnel reviews and“OKs” the communication. In some embodiments, the alerting moduletransmits the converted transcript of the violating communication alongwith the notification signal.

The metadata database 282 stores the metadata extracted from mostcommunications detected by the detection and prevention system 200,according to an embodiment of the invention. The metadata in themetadata database 282 contains basic information about the correspondingcommunication stored in the transcript database. Basic information abouta communication may include the names of the people communicating, thenumbers and accounts used, the time and date of the communication, amongothers. The metadata database 282 helps the detection and preventionsystem 200 organize the large volume of communications and providesdigital identification for each communication detected by the detectionand prevention system 200. The metadata database 282 supports archivingand preserving the communications detected by the system. The metadatadatabase 282 assists with searching for previous communications in thetranscript database 284 by accommodating an initial search within themetadata database 282 for past communications based on basic informationsuch as the name of the inmates or the phone numbers used in thecommunication. The initial search through the metadata database 282allows the system to narrow the search to identified past communicationsin the transcript database 284.

The transcript database 284 contains the communications detected by thedetection and prevention system 200 in a text file format, according toan embodiment of the invention. The communications in the transcriptdatabase 284 have mostly been converted to a standard language and havecorresponding metadata in the metadata database 282.

The language dictionary 286 includes the language dictionaries ofdifferent types of languages. The language dictionary 286 also includessound waveforms and speech signature frequencies for each respectivelanguage. For example, the language dictionary 286 may includevocabulary and phrases in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean,among others. The keyword database 288 includes keywords that aretypically used by controlled environments to monitor inmatecommunications. In an embodiment, the use of a keyword in an inmatecommunication would be detected by the detection and prevention system200 and consequently trigger the monitoring of the communication for anextended period of time. For example, keywords may include “kill,”“drugs,” and “riot” and the detection of a key word in an inmatecommunication would trigger the extended monitoring of thecommunication.

Exemplary Detection and Prevention Analysis Engine

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a detection and preventionanalysis engine 300, according to an embodiment of the invention. Thedetection and prevention system includes a signal input/output 305A-B, akeyword searching and monitoring module 310, metadata search engine, andscoring module 330. The detection and prevention analysis engine 300 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the detection and preventionanalysis engine 260.

The signal I/O 305A receives and transmits the communications to beanalyzed by the detection and prevention analysis engine 300. Thekeyword searching and monitoring module 310 receives and searches thecommunication for keywords and/or phrases stored in the keyword database288, according to an embodiment of the invention. When a keyword isdetected, the monitoring function is triggered and the message ismonitored for an extended period of time. The monitored communication isreceived by the scoring module to be compared with relevant pastcommunications stored in the transcript database 284. The keywordsearching and monitoring module 310 reads the metadata associated withthe communication, which will be used by the metadata to the metadatasearch engine 320 to conduct a search for past communications containingsimilar metadata. In another embodiment, the keyword searching andmonitoring module 310 searches the received communication for terms andphrases that indicate contact information. Such terms and phrases mayinclude addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, among others. Forexample, the keyword searching and monitoring module 310 is capable ofrecognizing a string of spoken numbers that resemble a phone number. Anyreceived communication that contains an address, phone number, emailaddress, or any other means of contacting a different party is assigneda predetermined high score.

The metadata search engine 320 receives the metadata associated with amonitored communication and conducts a search in the metadata database282 for any overlap in the metadata for past communications, accordingto an embodiment of the invention. The search of the metadata database282 identifies the relevant metadata with corresponding communicationtranscripts stored in the transcript database 284. The metadata searchengine 320 receives the corresponding communication transcripts from thetranscript database 284. The corresponding communication transcripts areprovided to the scoring module 330 to be compared with the monitoredcommunication transmitted by the keyword searching and monitoring module310.

The scoring module 330 scores the monitored communication transmitted bythe keyword searching and monitoring module 310, according to anembodiment of the invention. The scoring module compares the monitoredcommunication with the relevant communication transcripts transmitted bythe metadata search engine 320. The scoring module 330 searches andcompares similar phrases contained in the monitored communication withthe relevant communication transcripts. The scoring module 330 assigns ascore to the monitored communication and compares the score with apredetermined threshold. If the score is higher than the threshold, thecommunication is flagged and a notification signal is sent to thealerting module 260. The scoring module 330 will be described in detailin the following FIG. 4.

Exemplary Scoring Module

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a scoring module 400, according toan embodiment of the invention. The scoring module includes a real timecommunication scoring module 410, a separate communication scoringmodule 420, and a score comparison module 430. The scoring module 400may represent an exemplary embodiment of the scoring module 330.

The real time communication scoring module 410 scores real timecommunications by comparing similar phrases and keywords within the realtime communications with relevant past communications, according to anembodiment of the invention. The real time communications scoring module410 receives monitored communications from the keyword searching andmonitoring module 310 and determines whether there are any ruleviolations within the real time communication. An example of a ruleviolation within a real time communication would be an ongoingconversation containing message relays from one inmate to another.Accordingly, the focus of the real time communication scoring module 410is to determine the similarities of words being spoken between theparticipants in a real time communication in relation to a pastcommunication. The real time communication scoring module 410 comparesthe monitored communication with relevant past communications stored inthe transcript database 284 in order to determine the similarities ofwords between the relevant past communications and the real timecommunication. The real time communication scoring module 410 calculatesand assigns a score to the monitored communication.

In an embodiment, the monitored communication received by the real timecommunication scoring module 410 is in the form of a language convertedtranscript. The transcript indicates who is communicating in eachspecific section of the transcript. The real time communication scoringmodule 410 distinguishes the different participants in the monitoredcommunication and searches for similarities between the communicationsof each participant. The real time communication scoring module 410identifies the same or similar textual content within the transcript andcompares the textual content with relevant past communications. The realtime communication scoring module 410 calculates a score for themonitored communication by calculating a correlation of between thecontents of the monitored communication and relevant pastcommunications. The score for the monitored communication can varydepending on the number of times a similar phrase is used and thesignificance of the phrase. The score is higher for monitoredcommunications containing a higher correlation and/or a higher frequencyof similar phrases used, and the use of a suspicious or illegal keyword.The score is lower for communications containing a lower correlationand/or a lower frequency of similar phrases used, and the use of benignphrases. In another embodiment, the real time communication scoringmodule 410 accesses the key word database 288 and the score mayadditionally or alternatively depend on the frequency of key wordsdetected in the real time communication. The score is higher formonitored communications containing a higher frequency of key words.

The separate communication scoring module 420 scores communications thatare not in real time, according to an embodiment of the invention. Anexample of a separate communication includes emails and texts sentbetween inmates at separate times, among others. The separatecommunication scoring module 420 focuses on comparing the monitoredcommunication with relevant past communications stored in the transcriptdatabase 284 in order to determine the similarities of words between theseparate communications. The separate communication scoring module 420calculates and assigns a score to the monitored communication.

In an embodiment, the separate time communication scoring module 420receives a monitored communication from the keyword searching andmonitoring module 310. The separate time communication scoring module420 receives past communications related to the monitored communicationfrom the metadata search engine 320. The communications are in the formof a language converted transcript. The separate time communicationscoring module 420 identifies the same or similar textual contentbetween the monitored communication and the relevant past communicationsand calculates a score for the monitored communication based on thecomparison. The separate time communication scoring module 420calculates a correlation between the contents of the relevant pastcommunications with the current monitored communication. The score forthe monitored communication can vary depending on the number of times asimilar phrase is used and the significance of the phrase. The score ishigher for monitored communications containing a higher correlation, ahigher frequency of similar phrases used in the separate communications,and the use of a suspicious or illegal keyword. The score is lower forcommunications containing a lower correlation, a lower frequency ofsimilar phrases used, and the use of benign phrases. In anotherembodiment, the separate time communication scoring module 420 accessesthe key word database 288 and the score may additionally oralternatively depend on the frequency of key words detected in themonitored communication. The score is higher for monitoredcommunications containing a higher frequency of key words.

The score comparison module 430 receives the communication scores fromthe real time communication scoring module 410 and the separatecommunication scoring module 420, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The score comparison module 430 may have a memory thatcontains a threshold score. The threshold score is predetermined and canbe adjusted by an administrator. The score comparison module 430compares the received communication scores with the threshold score. Ifthe communication score is higher than the threshold score, then thecommunication is sent to the alerting module 270 along with anotification signal for the supervising personnel at the controlledenvironment. If the communication is a real time communication, then thecommunication can be disconnected if the score is higher than thethreshold score. If the communication is a separate time communication,the communication can be withheld until reviewed by the supervisingpersonnel and future communication can be restricted if the score ishigher than the threshold score.

System Operation

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart diagram of an exemplary method 500 fordetecting and preventing illegal communications. The method of FIG. 5 isdescribed below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

At the outset, a communication is detected (502). The detectedcommunication is stored in a communication storage 220 (504) for lateranalysis. The communication is stored in the appropriate file format inwhich the communication has been detected and arranged in a queue. Thesystem makes a determination of whether the communication is in an audioformat (506). If the communication is stored as in audio format (506-Y),transcriber 230 receives and transcribes the audio file into a text file(508). The resulting text file contains the transcript of the detectedcommunication. If the communication is not in an audio format (506-N),no transcription is needed.

The system subsequently determines whether the communication is in astandard language (510). This refers to whether the communication is ina common language employed by the analysis engine, e.g. North AmericanEnglish. If the communication is not in the standard language (510-N),then the language converter 240 receives the communication and convertsthe communication into a standard language (512). The conversion into astandard language facilitates a more efficient and universal method ofmonitoring the communications to detect rule violation. If thecommunication is in a standard language (510-Y), language conversiondoes not occur.

Once the communication is determined to be in the standard language, thesystem searches the communication for keywords that are typically usedby controlled environments to monitor inmate communications (514). Thesystem continues to search for keywords in the communication if it doesnot find a match (516-N). If the system finds a keyword match in thecommunication (516-Y), then the system monitors the communication for anextended period of time (518). The scoring module 330 receives themonitored communication and assigns a score (520) to the communication.This step is described in detail in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6. illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 600 for scoring amonitored message. The method of FIG. 6 is described below withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The monitored communication is received by the scoring module 330 (602)in order to be analyzed and compared with relevant past communications.Next, the scoring module 330 determines whether the monitoredcommunication is a real-time communication (604), such as a voice orvideo call.

If the monitored communication is determined to be a real-timecommunication (604-Y), the real time communication scoring module 410compares similar phrases and keywords within the monitored communicationand assigns a score (606). The focus of the real time communicationscoring module 410 is to determine the similarities of words beingspoken between the participants in a real time communication in relationto a past communication. The real time communication scoring module 410compares the monitored communication with relevant past communicationsstored in the transcript database 284 in order to determine thesimilarities of words between the relevant past communications and theongoing real time communication. The real time communication scoringmodule 410 calculates a score for the monitored communication bycalculating a correlation of between the contents of the monitoredcommunication and relevant past communications. The score for themonitored communication can vary depending on the number of times asimilar phrase is used and the significance of the phrase.

If the monitored communication is not a real-time communication (604-N),the separate time communication scoring module (420) compares similarphrases and keyword between the monitored communication and pastcommunications stored in the database 280 (608). The separate timecommunication scoring module 420 identifies the same or similar textualcontent between the separate communications and calculates a score forthe monitored communication. The separate time communication scoringmodule 420 calculates a correlation between the contents of the relevantpast communications with the current monitored communication. The scorefor the monitored communication can vary depending on the number oftimes a similar phrase is used and the significance of the phrase

Once the communication has been scored, the assigned score is comparedto a predetermined threshold score (610/552). Referring back to FIG. 5,if the score is lower than the threshold (522-N), then the systemdetermines whether the communication is still ongoing (524). If thecommunication is still ongoing (524-Y), then the system continues tosearch for keywords in the communication (514). If the communication hasended (524-N), the method 500 ends (528).

On the other hand, if the assigned score is higher than the threshold(522-Y), then the system takes any number of remedial measures (526),such as alerting a supervisor that a rule violation has occurred in thecommunication, terminating the communication (in the case of a real-timecommunication), withholding the communication for closure inspection (inthe case of a non-real-time communication), among others. Following theremedial measures (526), the method ends (528).

Exemplary Computer System Implementation

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) thatvarious elements and features of the present disclosure, as describedherein, can be implemented in hardware using analog and/or digitalcircuits, in software, through the execution of computer instructions byone or more general purpose or special-purpose processors, or as acombination of hardware and software.

The following description of a general purpose computer system isprovided for the sake of completeness. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure can be implemented in hardware, or as a combination ofsoftware and hardware. Consequently, embodiments of the disclosure maybe implemented in the environment of a computer system or otherprocessing system. For example, the method of flowcharts 500 and 600 canbe implemented in the environment of one or more computer systems orother processing systems. An example of such a computer system 700 isshown in FIG. 7. One or more of the modules depicted in the previousfigures can be at least partially implemented on one or more distinctcomputer systems 700.

Computer system 700 includes one or more processors, such as processor704. Processor 704 can be a special purpose or a general purpose digitalsignal processor. Processor 704 is connected to a communicationinfrastructure 702 (for example, a bus or network). Various softwareimplementations are described in terms of this exemplary computersystem. After reading this description, it will become apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the disclosureusing other computer systems and/or computer architectures.

Computer system 700 also includes a main memory 706, preferably randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 708.Secondary memory 708 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 710and/or a removable storage drive 712, representing a floppy disk drive,a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, or the like. Removablestorage drive 712 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit716 in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit 716 represents afloppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, or the like, which is read byand written to by removable storage drive 712. As will be appreciated bypersons skilled in the relevant art(s), removable storage unit 716includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computersoftware and/or data.

In alternative implementations, secondary memory 708 may include othersimilar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system 700. Such means may include, for example, aremovable storage unit 718 and an interface 714. Examples of such meansmay include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as thatfound in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM,or PROM) and associated socket, a thumb drive and USB port, and otherremovable storage units 718 and interfaces 714 which allow software anddata to be transferred from removable storage unit 718 to computersystem 700.

Computer system 700 may also include a communications interface 720.Communications interface 720 allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system 700 and external devices. Examples ofcommunications interface 720 may include a modem, a network interface(such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot andcard, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface720 are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic,optical, or other signals capable of being received by communicationsinterface 720. These signals are provided to communications interface720 via a communications path 722. Communications path 722 carriessignals and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, aphone line, a cellular phone link, an RF link and other communicationschannels.

As used herein, the terms “computer program medium” and “computerreadable medium” are used to generally refer to tangible storage mediasuch as removable storage units 716 and 718 or a hard disk installed inhard disk drive 710. These computer program products are means forproviding software to computer system 700.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored inmain memory 706 and/or secondary memory 708. Computer programs may alsobe received via communications interface 720. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system 700 to implement the presentdisclosure as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs,when executed, enable processor 704 to implement the processes of thepresent disclosure, such as any of the methods described herein.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system 700. Where the disclosure is implemented using software,the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded intocomputer system 700 using removable storage drive 712, interface 714, orcommunications interface 720.

In another embodiment, features of the disclosure are implementedprimarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and gate arrays.Implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform thefunctions described herein will also be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art(s).

CONCLUSION

The disclosure has been described above with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) that variouschanges in form and detail can be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication monitoring method, comprising:receiving a communication involving an inmate of acontrolled-environment facility, the received communication includingaudio data of a recorded conversation and metadata; extracting themetadata from the received communication, the metadata describingnon-content information about the received communication and/or theconversation and including at least one timestamp; comparing theextracted metadata to metadata of a plurality of previously-storedcommunications; identifying a previously-stored second communication,from among the plurality of previously-stored communications that hasmetadata that is similar to the extracted metadata to within apredetermined degree; retrieving the previously-stored secondcommunication; correlating spoken content of the received communicationwith spoken content of the previously-stored second communication, thecorrelating including: first comparing spoken content included in theaudio data of the received communication to spoken content of thepreviously-stored second communication; second comparing non-spokencontent included in the audio data of the received communication tonon-spoken content of the previously-stored second communication;identifying a plurality of shared words and/or phrases that were spokenin both the received communication and the previously-stored secondcommunication; for each of the plurality of shared words and/or phrases,determining a relevancy score indicative of a uniqueness and/orimportance of the shared word and/or phrase; and determining a frequencyof each of the shared words and/or phrases that appear in both thereceived communication and the previously-stored second communication,each frequency indicating a number of times the corresponding sharedword and/or phrase appears in both the received communication and thepreviously-stored second communication; assigning a score to thereceived communication based on the correlation, the frequencies, andthe relevancy scores of the shared words and/or phrases; comparing thescore with a predetermined threshold; and determining the receivedcommunication to be an inmate-to-inmate communication based on the scorecomparison.
 2. The communication monitoring method of claim 1, whereinthe received communication is in an audio format, the communicationmonitoring method further comprising: storing the received communicationin the audio format; and transcribing the received communication into atext format, wherein the text format reflects contents of the receivedcommunication.
 3. The communication monitoring method of claim 1,further comprising: determining that the received communication containsnon-standard language; and converting non-standard language portions ofthe received communication into a standard language, the convertingincluding: accessing a language dictionary to identify the non-standardlanguage; and translating the non-standard language into the standardlanguage using the language dictionary and a plurality of conversionprotocols.
 4. The communication monitoring method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining that the received communication is a real-timecommunication; detecting keywords and/or key phrases within the receivedcommunication in real-time; and storing a recording of the receivedcommunication for performing the correlating at a later time.
 5. Thecommunication monitoring method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that the received communication is not a real-timecommunication; identifying a stored second communication havingoverlapping metadata with the communication in response to thedetermining; and correlating contents of the received communication withcontents of the identified stored second communication.
 6. Thecommunication monitoring method of claim 4, further comprising, inresponse to the determining, taking a remedial action, wherein theremedial action includes alerting a supervising personnel anddisconnecting the communication.
 7. The communication monitoring methodof claim 5, further comprising, in response to the determining, taking aremedial action, wherein the remedial action includes withholding thereceived communication from being forwarded to an intended recipientuntil after the correlating.
 8. A communication monitoring method,comprising: receiving a first communication that involves an inmate of acontrolled-environment facility, the first communication including audiodata of a recorded conversation and metadata; extracting the metadatafrom the first communication, the metadata describing non-contentinformation about the first communication and/or the recordedconversation including at least one timestamp; identifying keywordsand/or keyphrases in the first communication; comparing the extractedmetadata to metadata of a plurality of previously-stored communications;identifying a previously-stored second communication, from among theplurality of previously-stored communications, that has metadata that issimilar to the extracted metadata to within a predetermined degree;searching the previously-stored second communication for instances ofthe keywords and/or keyphrases identified in the first communication todetermine a plurality of shared words and/or phrases; determining, foreach of the plurality of shared words and/or phrases, a relevancy scoreindicative of a uniqueness and/or importance of the corresponding sharedword or phrase; determining a frequency of appearance of each of theplurality of shared words and/or phrases that appear in both the firstcommunication and the previously-stored second communication, eachfrequency indicating a number of times the corresponding shared word orphrase appears in both the first communication and the previously-storedsecond communication; scoring the first communication based on thefrequencies of appearance and the relevancy scores of the shared wordsand/or phrases; comparing the score with a predetermined threshold; andidentifying the first communication as an inmate-to-inmate communicationbased on the score comparing.
 9. The communication monitoring method ofclaim 8, further comprising: determining that the first communication isa real-time communication; forwarding the first communication to anintended recipient prior to completing the comparing; and storing a copyof the first communication, wherein the comparing is performed using thestored copy of the first communication.
 10. The communication monitoringmethod of claim 9, further comprising correlating contents of the firstcommunication with contents of the previously-stored secondcommunication, wherein the scoring of the first communication is basedon the correlation.
 11. The communication monitoring method of claim 8,further comprising: determining that the first communication is not inreal time; correlating contents of the first communication with contentsof the previously-scored second communication in response to thedetermination before forwarding the first communication to an intendedrecipient; and scoring the first communication based on the correlation.12. A communication monitoring system, the system comprising: adatabase; a transceiver, configured to receive a communication involvingan inmate of a controlled-environment facility, the communicationincluding audio data of a recorded conversation and metadata; aprocessing subsystem configured to extract the metadata from thecommunication, the metadata describing non-content information about thecommunication and/or the conversation and including at least onetimestamp; and a detection and prevention analysis engine configured to:compare the extracted metadata to metadata of a plurality of storedcommunications; identify a stored communication from among the pluralityof stored communications that has metadata that is similar to theextracted metadata to within a predetermined degree; correlate spokencontent of the communication with spoken content of the storedcommunication, the correlating including: first comparing the spokencontent included in the audio data of the communication to spokencontent of the stored communication; second comparing non-spoken contentincluded in the audio data of the communication to non-spoken contentincluded in the stored communication; identifying a plurality of sharedwords and/or phrases that were spoken in both the communication and thestored communication; for each of the plurality of shared words and/orphrases, determine a relevancy score indicative of a uniqueness and/orimportance of the shared word and/or phrase; and determining a frequencyof each of the shared words and/or phrases that appear in both thecommunication and the stored communication, each frequency indicating anumber of times the corresponding shared word and/or phrase appears inboth the communication and the second communication; assign a score tothe communication based on the correlation, the frequencies, and therelevancy scores of the shared words and/or phrases; compare the scorewith a predetermined threshold; and determine that the communication isan inmate-to-inmate communication based on the score comparison.
 13. Thecommunication monitoring system of claim 12, further comprising acommunication storage configured to store the communication in anappropriate format depending on a type of the communication.
 14. Thecommunication monitoring system of claim 12, further comprising atranscriber configured to transcribe the communication into a textformat, wherein the text format reflects contents of the communication.15. The communication monitoring system of claim 12, further comprisinga language converter configured to: determine that the communicationcontains non-standard language; and convert the communication into astandard language, wherein to convert the communication, the languageconverter is configured to: access a language dictionary to identify thenon-standard language; and translate nonstandard language portions ofthe communication into the standard language using the languagedictionary and a plurality of conversion protocols.
 16. Thecommunication monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the detection andprevention analysis engine is further configured to: determine that thecommunication is in real time; and forward the communication to anintended recipient prior to performing the correlating.
 17. Thecommunication monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the detection andprevention analysis engine is further configured to: determine that thecommunication is not in real time; and perform the correlating prior toforwarding the communication to an intended recipient.
 18. Thecommunication monitoring system of claim 16, wherein the detection andprevention analysis engine is further configured to take remedial actionin response to the determining that the communication is aninmate-to-inmate communication, wherein the remedial action includesalerting a supervising personnel and disconnecting the communication.19. The communication monitoring system of claim 17, wherein thedetection and prevention analysis engine is further configured to takeremedial action in response to the determining that the communication isan inmate-to-inmate communication, wherein the remedial action includeswithholding the communication and preventing future communicationcontaining the same metadata.